The Comprehensive Scholomance Academy Preview

 

Data Reaper Report - Rogue

Wand Thief

Wand Thief

Rogue likes value 1-drops, and Wand Thief represents a strong one, though it’s not a turn 1 play most of the time. Mage spells are generally of good quality, so Rogue can often find removal, burn and stalling at a pretty good rate. We can see different kinds of Rogue decks playing Wand Thief, but it’s not a super powerful card.

Score: 2

Plagiarize

Plagiarize

This is the kind of secret that’s very easy to play around once you’re familiar of its existence in a decklist, so we have serious doubts that it will be commonly used. The worst thing about Plagiarize is that it doesn’t affect the board and represents a tempo loss. It’s strictly a value secret, and one that is significantly worse than Dirty Tricks. Hard pass.

Score: 1

Vulpera Toxinblade

Vulpera Toxinblade

Just an excellent 3-drop that works perfectly with a turn 2 dagger, allowing you to immediately remove an opponent’s minion or alternatively, hit face and demand removal. Since it’s an aura effect, you can just keep pushing damage as long as it’s alive, and the buffed dagger can help this guy survive by controlling the board. This card could end up being as impactful as Hench-Clan Thug in dictating Rogue’s curve.

Score: 3

Cutting Class

Cutting Class

Rogue already has access to good card draw options, and we’re not convinced playing weapons such as Waggle Pick or Hooked Scimitar will be the way to go in this expansion considering the competition they face and their lack of synergy with other cards in this set. Cutting Class will likely be passed over.

Score: 1

Brain Freeze

Brain Freeze

Not a terrible card in a vacuum but it’s unlikely to be good enough in a constructed Rogue deck. Backstab does a far better job at dealing with early game minions and while it could be interesting to see the class utilizing freeze effects in the late game, it’s probably better off getting them off Wand Thief. A Rogue spell needs to be more powerful than this if it doesn’t go face.

Score: 1

Coerce

Coerce

This is essentially a stronger Assassinate, and its cheap mana cost makes it firmly compete with Sap. We can see scenarios in which we would rather run Coerce over Sap, as neither seems to be a strictly better card. Coerce is a reasonable option that might flex into decks.

Score: 2

Self-Sharpening Sword

Self-Sharpening Sword

This is likely Rogue’s strongest weapon in the format. For 3 mana, we get a weapon that deals 10 damage and has tremendous synergy with Deadly Poison and other weapon buffs due to its durability. We like it over Hooked Scimitar since it can be played on turn 3 without any combo activation, while Scimitar is very reliant on coin. This weapon is also stronger than Waggle Pick since it comes down earlier while still dealing more damage.

Score: 3

Shifty Sophomore

Shifty Sophomore

This card just isn’t good enough. It’s too slow for Greyheart Sage and the Spellburst isn’t very exciting. The combo card pool has a bunch of garbage we don’t want to generate, but if we get a good card on average, Sophomore doesn’t really fit a Rogue deck that we want to play. There are cheaper and stronger value cards than this one.

Score: 1

Secret Passage

Secret Passage

One of the most blatantly busted cards in this set, Secret Passage provides us with the greatest incentive to run a Rogue deck that doesn’t play Galakrond. It encourages the class to proceed with ruthless aggression and a lower curve busting with damage, with Secret Passage offering fuel and finishing potential to close out the game. What’s important to note is that cards you’ve drawn or generated during a Secret Passage turn are kept in your hand even after it swaps back, so it’s even better than it looks.

A common play pattern will be to play Secret Passage in the mid-to-late game and proceed to vomit every card you find, giving you access to free resources and damage for just 1 mana. Secret Passage can also give you outs if you’re ever in a desperate situation and need to find an answer you haven’t drawn yet. It’s going to be an incredible tool for Rogue.

Score: 4

Potion of Illusion

Potion of Illusion

While there is some chance of this spell seeing play in Mage, we really don’t like it in Rogue. The class already has other, more reliable tools of winning through a specific combo, and if they ever become viable it’s unlikely that Rogue will need it. As a source of card advantage, Potion of Illusion feels very redundant, conditional, and clunky. We’ll be surprised if it finds success in Rogue.

Score: 1

Steeldancer

Steeldancer

Steeldancer is a nice 4-drop that provides strong follow up to Self-Sharpening Sword or a Deadly Poison. A 4/4 that spawns a random 3-drop is good tempo for 4 mana and allows Rogue to exert serious pressure in the mid-game. The only question is whether it’s good enough for a Secret Passage deck that generally wants a very low curve, but we think it might make the cut as it is one of the class’ only options to put significant stats on the board that demand removal. Without some powerful on-curve plays, an aggressive Rogue’s board development could be too meek.

Score: 3

Inflitrator Lilian

Infiltrator Lilian

Lilian is the ultimate Piloted Shredder. A 4 mana 4/2 with Stealth is much stronger than Shredder’s original body, and the deathrattle is also much stronger than a random 2-drop. Rogue has excellent tools to control Forsaken Lilian in the direction it wants it to attack, on top of being able to control where Infiltrator Lilian initially wants to attack. With two 4 attack bodies, Lilian can put a lot of pressure in slower matchups and force the opponent into awkward removal turns. Just a good all-around card that will likely see play in different Rogue decks, though it won’t be the one to make or break a deck.

Score: 3

Doctor Krasinov

Doctor Krastinov

Krasinov offers a reasonable option to upgrade your Self-Sharpening Sword, one that we feel is superior to Captain Greenskin due to its superior body (4/4 rush is much better than a 5/4, even if the effect is conditional on having an opponent minion to run into). Furthermore, Krasinov has neat synergy with Shadowstep, if we ever want to get greedy with weapon upgrades. This legendary could be a little too expensive and situational to make the grade in Rogue, but it’s worth thinking about. A curve of Sword/Steeldancer/Krasinov looks pretty good.

Score: 2

Jandice Barov

Jandice Barov

Jandice is utterly nuts in Rogue, more so than Mage because of the availability of Shadowstep as well as Witchy Lackey. Rogue is also better equipped to keep the opponent off the board, which is a scenario where Jandice produces the greatest amount of pressure. This is an easily abusable powerhouse that should be a staple for any kind of Rogue deck going forward, significantly boosting its mid-game power.

Score: 4

 

 

Final Thoughts

Scholomance Academy Set Rank: 6th

Overall Power Ranking: 6th

Galakrond has been generally very good for Rogue, but it’s almost like they’ve developed a co-dependency. The class hasn’t been able to mount a serious meta contender that did not run Galakrond for the entirety of Ashes of Outland, and through most of Descent of Dragons. Galakrond Rogue should be getting some great new cards, such as Jandice Barov and Infiltrator Lilian, but it’s not going to drastically change from what we know of it today.

Scholomance Academy represents a great chance for Rogue to diversify, to find a new deck beyond Galakrond’s shadow. The card that’s most likely to make it happen is Secret Passage. We have no doubt it is one of the most absurd cards in the set.

Secret Passage greatly encourages aggression, since we want a relatively cheap curve that we can dump more easily when we play the card, but the extent of how far we should go is less obvious.

We could go for a hyper-aggressive route, maximizing Secret Passage turns at the cost of our overall power level and consistency. Voracious Reader is a prime candidate for such a shell, but the deck will have to rely on several neutrals of an average power level to mount a serious early game assault.

Alternatively, we could just play a solid, well-rounded deck that tops at 5 mana and takes advantage of some of the new additions Rogue has received. Steeldancer is potentially a very powerful 4-drop that works well with Self-Sharpening Sword at the 3-mana slot. Sword is one of the strongest cards in the Rogue set and represents high damage potential. In addition, Vulpera Toxinblade is a fantastic 3-drop, further strengthening a curve that’s already boosted by Lilian and Jandice.

So, besides Galakrond Rogue, which should be a solid deck, we could see a rise of a faster Rogue deck that’s a bit more ruthless in its aggression. Will Rogue find a secret passage to the top of the meta? We’re a little bit worried by the potential power level of Warrior and Druid, classes that have recently given Rogue a hard time, but never count Valeera out.  She tends to find a way.

 

 

8 Comments

  1. Just agreeing with a lot of the comments already posted. Lots of time and effort into analyzing each and every card. Great work.

  2. Awesome review guys! I can’t believe how much effort went into this. Keep up the great work!

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